After multiple court appearances for DeAndre Booker, who is accused of killing Warren mother, Ashley Elkins, a judge says he needs more time to review the evidence before ruling whether the case can move forward to trial.

Friday, Aug. 22, was the last day of testimony in the preliminary exam of Booker, and prosecutors and the defense brought hundreds of pieces of evidence over multiple days. Booker is charged with first-degree premeditated murder, tampering with evidence, disinterment or mutilation of a dead body and concealing the death of an individual. He is also charged with lying to police in a related case.   

"This case is complicated to say the least," Judge Joseph Boedeker said in court. "Close to 200 exhibits, including a lot of videos--I'm told that the transcript itself could be some 1,000 pages."

Elkins's family reported the 30-year-old missing on Jan. 3. Investigators allege that Booker, who they say is Elkins's ex-boyfriend, killed the mother of two in his Roseville apartment before disposing of her body. Despite searches, including in a landfill, her body has not been found. 

Testimonies on Friday included Roseville police Lieutenant Scott Burley, who outlined the difficult conditions officers faced searching a dump last January for Elkin's body. 

"How would you classify the search that took place in that landfill during that week?" asked a prosecutor during testimony. 

"It would have been like looking for a needle in a haystack, there was that much area and that much material to move," said Burley. 

Boedeker decided to allow the transcript to be typed up by court officials and distributed to prosecutors and the defense before oral arguments in a couple of months. It's a decision that the Elkins's family said is disappointing but necessary. 

"Two to three months is a long time to wait, you know, to hear a decision, but you know we think the evidence that came in is very compelling that ultimately the judge will bind him over to circuit court for trial," said Maurice Morton, a spokesperson for the Elkins family. 

Last week, Booker's adopted niece, Payne Barksdale, testified that the two had not spoken for around a decade until last year. She says Booker asked her to move his co-worker's car to a different apartment; it's unclear whose car it was. Barksdale said that this happened in January, the same month Elkins went missing.

Barksdale said that after they dropped off the car, she said Booker showed her around his apartment. She told the courtroom that when returning to the apartment, she had to use the restroom, to which Booker told her to wait until he finished cleaning it.

That same bathroom was the focus of investigators. 

Earlier this month, Elkins's mother, Monica Elkins, testified that she last heard from her daughter on Jan. 1. She claims she became worried when Elkins didn't respond to her numerous text messages or calls, which was unlike her.

Monica Elkins says she went to Booker's apartment to see if her daughter was there. When asked why, Monica says her daughter was having financial problems, and Booker was one to help out.